Integrated VRAM vs. RAM - Which is more worth having?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Vadrif

Vadrif

Commendable
Jul 6, 2016
12
0
1,510
There are those integrated video cards that can allocate some actual system RAM and turn it into VRAM (even if slower than dedicated) so I was wondering, which is more worth keeping/increasing?

I have a 4 GBs RAM & I can increase my VRAM to 512 MBs on the cost of the actual RAM, leading to 3.5 GBs of RAM left for usage. Which is better for general gaming/intensive editing purposes? And what is the best midpoint between the two?
 
Solution
HamBown81
I have generally found that the default / automatic allocations are sufficient. If at all possible, the best thing you can do is get more RAM. That being said, RAM isn't an issue until you run out of it. You won't be doing "intensive" editing with 4GB of system memory.

EDIT: are you running a 32-bit operating system?
Sort by date Sort by votes
HamBown81

HamBown81

Commendable
Aug 3, 2017
917
0
1,360
I have generally found that the default / automatic allocations are sufficient. If at all possible, the best thing you can do is get more RAM. That being said, RAM isn't an issue until you run out of it. You won't be doing "intensive" editing with 4GB of system memory.

EDIT: are you running a 32-bit operating system?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Vadrif

Vadrif

Commendable
Jul 6, 2016
12
0
1,510

Nope, 64-bit. I'm planning to upgrade the RAM and video card later, but I need to understand how to deal with what I have in the meantime.
Intensive Beginner Editing I guess.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
HamBown81

HamBown81

Commendable
Aug 3, 2017
917
0
1,360
Honestly, the best thing you can do it try it and see. There are so many factors that come into play, it is very difficult to say what the impacts will be in your specific use-case.

As long as you aren't running out of system memory, then it would probably help you out to allocate more to the VRAM. Again, it is difficult to say without actually testing it out.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Vadrif

Vadrif

Commendable
Jul 6, 2016
12
0
1,510


Well I left that as a last case scenario, I'd thought it would be quicker to ask and see if there's any general logic behind it. Thank you for your quick response(s)!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
R

Rdslw

Honorable
Aug 1, 2017
1,899
139
13,340
Well. Hard to say. Games certainly want more VRAM whenever possible. With browser you're fine around ~256-64MB VRAM, maybe less.
Check this on your GPU benchmarks, no reason to give VRAM when streaming processors will not handle, right ?
I would stay with RAM > VRAM. At 4 GB tier windows takes most of ram, going lower than that will force usage of pagefile and thus lowering performance to tiers I could not handle.
if you have option of adding ram then go for 8 GB and set Vram to 1GB. if not stay at around 3.7 GB RAM and 256 MB VRAM,
+another 256MB when you need to play something that will not boot on 256:)
 
Upvote 1 Downvote
Vadrif

Vadrif

Commendable
Jul 6, 2016
12
0
1,510


I've been following this thinking, it's always said that RAM is more valuable than VRAM only when it's integrated, because it's slow anyway. I've been using 128 MBs for VRAM, I'll try with 256 and reply if there's any noticeable change.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
HamBown81

HamBown81

Commendable
Aug 3, 2017
917
0
1,360

TBH, if it were me, I would be concerned about restricting my system memory when there is only 4GB available to begin with. Windows uses a decent chunk of that at idle and 4GB is pretty bare-bones by modern standards.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Vadrif

Vadrif

Commendable
Jul 6, 2016
12
0
1,510


True, that is one of the reasons I'm focused on finding out the best balancing between them for best performance output.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom